Once Upon An Apple
by saresare
Summary: Recently finished watching Death Note. I love Ryuk's character, so wanted to do something with him. I don't usually write OC stories - normally hate them - but I also wanted to explore the compassionate side of shinigamis, so an OC was necessary. Set after the series ends. I'm in the midst of assignment season, so regular updates aren't likely. T for safety.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

The girl screamed and fell off the chair. Her eyes wide with shock, she looked around a moment before scrambling to her feet.

"Maçã? Are you okay?"

A few soft thuds drifted into earshot; the sound of her mother's slippers against the linoleum of the stairs.

It took her a few seconds to compose herself enough to reply. "I'm fine, Mum!" she called. She dusted herself off, feeling very embarrassed for imagining things. "Just… tripped over, is all."

Maçã carefully reached for the remaining apple on her desk and lifted it to her mouth. Again, the fruit whisked rapidly through the air for a split second before disappearing. She stared at the spot where it had vanished, thoroughly confused. Eventually she calmed down enough to look back at her desk, to the drawing she'd done. She was about to continue with it when the pencil lifted itself into the air and began floating around. She watched it with something between fascination and fear.

"Hello? Is there an invisible somebody there?" she asked quietly, her voice barely more than a squeak. "Are you a friendly somebody?"

The pencil paused in mid-air a moment, then began scribbling over her drawing. She looked down at it curiously, watching the colourful strokes materialise on the page. It was of an anthropomorphic smiling apple.

"Do… do you like apples?" she broached. "Are you trying to say you want more apples?"

The pencil drew a line between the curve of the drawing's lips, turning it into an open-mouthed smile.

The girl took this as an affirmation so hurried downstairs and gathered together three more apples. She returned to her room, making sure to shut the door behind her, and put the red fruits on her desk. One by one, they quickly disappeared.

"I don't think I can get any more for you without my mum realising," she said.

There was no reply.

"Maybe I can get you something besides apples?" she suggested.

No objects moved to signal a response.

She tried communicating with the invisible being a while longer before giving up, soon heading to bed.

The majority of the next day was spent wondering about the brief visit, and she paid little attention in class. When Maçã arrived home, she collected an apple from the kitchen and went upstairs to her room, hoping that she could bribe the 'ghost' into reappearing. She placed it in the centre of her desk and sat there watching it.

Nothing happened.

She sighed and was about to move the produce, thinking maybe she'd dreamt the whole thing, when a piece of furniture shifted behind her. She turned around instinctively toward the noise, and when she looked back to the desk the apple was gone.

"So it wasn't a dream," Maçã said happily. She was about to speak again, but was interrupted by a thin black book landing in her lap.


	2. Chapter 1 - Cartwheels

**Chapter 1  
Cartwheels**

* * *

As soon as the book touched her skin, the invisibility was relinquished. The being had broad shoulders covered in ratite feathers, an unnaturally thin waist, and a height to rival the ceiling. It appeared to be male, with a face reminiscent of the Joker; ghostly white with painted lips, flat nose, uneven nostrils, black make-up and a heart-shaped metal chain on his left ear. Spherical yellow eyes, the pupils a sinister crimson, sat beneath a widow's peak of messy, vertical dark blue hair. The hands looked more like skeletal gloves, black and thin and adorned in metal jewellery. A thick leather belt bore more chains, and the neck of the tight shirt seemed sewn into his collarbone with teeth. There was no break in the clothing on the legs to signal the beginning of shoes. Tattered, frayed wings folded into his back out of sight and he stood with the gait of a chimp – hunched slightly, with long arms at his side.

The sudden apparition startled her and she dropped the notebook with a gasp. The being laughed at her reaction, an ominous chuckle clearly tainted with amusement.

She regained her composure and retrieved the book from the floor. "Who are you?" she asked warily.

"My name is Ryuk. And what you're holding there is a Death Note," he said. His voice was gravelly and deliberate, yet nonchalant.

"What's a Death Note?"

"A note of death, obviously," he exclaimed and then laughed manically as though it was the most hilarious thing in the world.

She blinked incomprehensively.

His mirth died down once he realised she was too young to really understand what that meant. "You write somebody's name down and they die."

Maçã threw the book down in panic. "Why would I want to do that?" she cried. "Am I going to die for touching it?"

Ryuk sighed and shook his head. "Light was so much more entertaining than you."

"Who's Light?"

"You humans knew him as Kira," Ryuk said.

The girl's eyes widened. "You knew Kira?"

"Maybe. Depends on if you got any more apples," he mused, a sly grin on his face.

Maçã folded her arms. "My mum will get suspicious if apples keep disappearing. Why do you want apples so much anyway?"

"Have you _had_ an apple before?" he asked wistfully. "So much better than an apple from the shinigami world. All round and juicy and crispy."

"Shinigami world? You're a shinigami?" She didn't seem shocked by this fact, more naïve acceptance.

"Yeah," he said boredly. He started ransacking her room looking for fruit.

"Why can you speak Japanese then?"

"What?" He stopped and looked up at her; nobody had ever asked him that before.

"Well if you're from a different world," she pointed out, "then shouldn't you talk a different language?"

His perpetually smiling mouth turned upwards in an even wider grin. "I don't know. I never thought about that before. I suppose I'm just… talented."

"I'm talented too! Look, I can do a cartwheel!" she exclaimed. She placed her hands on the floor, flung her weight into the air and toppled over.

Ryuk cackled. "That wasn't a very good cartwheel."

"I'd like to see you do a better one," Maçã said defensively, moving into a sitting position on the floor. This made the size difference between them even more pronounced.

"You are very small," he commented instead.

"Don't change the subject. Cartwheel, now," she insisted.

"I'd rather not."

The girl opened her eyes as wide as they would go. "Please?"

"…No."

She clung onto his leg. "Pretty please with apples on top?"

Ryuk considered it now that his favourite food was involved. "Okay." He shook her off his leg and then did a handstand.

"That's not a cartwheel, but close enough," Maçã said.

"Still better than what you could do."

She poked her tongue out at him.

There was a knock and then her door opened. A woman of average height and chubbier build entered looking around the room with a furrowed brow. "Who are you talking to?" she asked.

"Ryuk," Maçã answered brightly.

"And where is this Ryuk now?"

"There, obviously," she explained, pointing to where the shinigami stood.

The woman looked to where Maçã was indicating and nodded slowly. "Oh, of course. Hello Ryuk."

"Wait, she can see me?" he exclaimed.

"Course she can see you," Maçã said, thinking it a stupid question because clearly he existed.

Ryuk started jumping around the woman, waving his hands in her face and making 'boo!' noises. She didn't react in the slightest. Maçã started giggling.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Ryuk is being silly," Maçã chortled.

"I'm sure he is. Remember to do your homework before dinner, Maçã," the mother added before leaving.

Ryuk sighed in relief with the knowledge that she was simply humouring her daughter and couldn't actually see him without touching the Death Note. He looked at the girl. "Your name is Maçã?"

"Yeah. It's Portuguese for apple."

"I know." He liked her more now.

"Mum likes apples. That's why we have the orchard."

"You have an orchard?" Ryuk asked. "Of… apples?"

She nodded.

He looked excited. "Show me."

"It's not near our house; it's out of the city. I can ask Mum to take me next time she goes down," she offered.

"Oh yes, ask. You should ask now. Right now," he said enthusiastically.

Maçã skipped downstairs. "Mum, Ryuk needs to know if we can go to the orchard with you next time you go," she reported.

The woman looked behind Maçã to where she thought the apparent imaginary friend was standing, inevitably looking in the wrong direction. "Of course. I'm going on Friday. You and Ryuk are welcome to join if you want."

"He likes apples," Maçã added.

"I'm sure he does," the woman said amicably.

Maçã ran back upstairs; a few seconds later Ryuk floated up through the floor, laughing raucously. She looked at him curiously, wondering what the mirth was for.

"She can't see me," Ryuk pointed out.

"Yes she can," Maçã protested.

"No, she's just pretending. She can't see me unless she touches the Death Note," he explained, gesturing to the notebook.

"Then I'll just get her to touch it," Maçã announced, picking the book up and going back downstairs once again. "Mum, you need to touch this book."

"Why?"

"Because it's the only way you can see Ryuk. He's a shinigami so you have to touch his Death Note to see him."

The mother stared at her. "_What_?"

"Yeah, apparently if you write in the Note then people die," she added obliviously.

"Maçã, that is a terrible thing to say! I'm surprised at you; this is not what you should be using your imagination for," the mother scolded seriously.

Maçã looked upset. "I'm not making it up."

"Go do your homework," she asserted.

"But-"

"Now."

The girl pouted and retreated to her room again, despondent that her mum didn't believe her and didn't want to touch the book. Ryuk was laughing again.

"Stop laughing," Maçã moped.

"But it's entertaining," he claimed.

"Why doesn't she believe me?"

"It's a notebook that kills when you write down someone's name. It's what Kira used to execute people. Maybe your mum just doesn't want you to be the next Kira," he said. He liked the idea of a naïve child becoming a Kira. Humans were so amusing.

"Kira used this?" she asked.

"Mmhmm."

Maçã wasn't sure what to think about that. She'd only heard bad things about Kira from her mother, even if some people at school thought he was 'cool'. "I don't want to be a murderer," she said, hiding the book in a box under her bed.

Ryuk looked disappointed. "Well that's no fun."


End file.
